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Aug. 24, 2009
Homeschool Co-op Classes and an Update!
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
The kids have been doing so great in school lately. Like I told a friend today, it almost feels wrong to be having so much fun!
Today, the boys did TWO chapters of math, because they just wanted to keep going! 12 worksheets of math....can you imagine?? And they loved every minute of it. We are going on Chapter 9 tomorrow (6 pages per chapter) and Chapter 12 starts some good addition problems, so I'm excited about that. I don't know if that will be this week or next week, but it's coming soon! We did addition and subtraction with Ben earlier (see post a while back) and he loved it. This will be Jack's first time on paper....the little stinker can already just do it in his head! They love math, and I'm grateful for that.
These pictures are from last week.
Jack
Ben working on math, as his sisters look on!
We did phonics today too. A while ago, we learned about the words an, am, as, ax, at, etc. Then we learned how you can add a letter to it, and it becomes a new word, like Sam, has, ax. Today, we used them all in sentences.
The boys have a phonics notebook and write down all of these things, so that they learn writing and reading at the same time. Jack writes quite messily, but I don't care. I'm not worrying about staying in the lines right now, when it's just notebook paper. When we do lined paper and practice letters, then he does, and that's all I need.
Anyway, today they wrote "Sam sat." They learned about capitalization and punctuation marks.
Then I wrote on the chalkboard, "Sam ____ an axe." They had to write the complete sentence, PLUS fill in the secret word. I told them the secret word was "has", and they had to sound it out in their head and come up with how to spell it. Thanks to my sister, Christine, we do this neat finger trick where they can count all the sounds on their hand. They both figured it out correctly!! I was SO proud of them. You should have seen their faces!
My goal with writing is obviously for them to write independently, and not copying from the chalkboard all the time, so every once in a while we do these 'surprise words' where they have to think about it quietly and see what they come up with. So far, so good!
Ben wrote "Sam has an axe." (I always write what they wrote underneath, AFTER they are done writing. It makes it easier for Daddy to read/see what they have done.)
Jack wrote "Sam sat."
We took a break and read some Bible stories and learned a lot about Noah. I think that's a cool story for them, because they see the mountains here all the time, and we just went camping in them. They know how far away they are, and how huge they are! It was mind-boggling to imagine that the flood covered the entire earth, and you couldn't see the mountains at ALL!
Meg and I worked together on drawing shapes. She can draw a perfect circle, an okay square, and a silly looking triangle. LOL We drew lots of vertical lines and horizontal ones, and reviewed colors. She had a blast having one-on-one time with Mommy and just soaked it all up!
For art time, the boys got to pick a letter of the alphabet, then draw things on their page that started with that letter! Ben chose "C". He wrote "cool" on it (copied from a little sticker next to him), drew a cat and a colorful cow. lol Jack chose "J" (I knew he would), and wrote a ton of J's on the top. He drew "Jack jumping", and then wanted Ben to jump too, so he drew a pic of his brother next to him. They loved that project.
Ben's drawing: (First he drew the letter "c", and then he wrote the word "cool" right in front of it. There is a "colorful cow" in the middle, the word "cat", and then an interesting "cat" drawn at the bottom. LOL)
Jack's drawing: (The stick figure along the right-hand side of the page is Jack jumping, and then Ben is at the bottom of the page!)
Tonight I signed the kids up for homeschool co-op classes! The co-op is one aspect of our homeschooling group. I didn't do the summer classes, because we had just joined the group, and I missed the deadline by one day. lol
There is still many 'open classes' the group offers to the public, but there are far more in the co-op. You have to offer at least one class/outing to be in it. I signed up to host 7 kids at our house to bake and decorate Christmas cookies! Yes, I will have 10 kids total in my house, 1 extra Mom, and be 36 weeks pregnant. Should be interesting!!! But we do it every year anyway, so why not open it up to more people?? I was too intimidated to offer anything else educational. I really wanted to do something easy and get a feel of what other people do first.
Anyway, tonight we got to sign the kids up. It opened at 9 PM tonight and was a mad rush to get the best spots!! I made out pretty well. Out of 15 classes that I wanted to do (there was probably 40 to choose from), I am only on a wait list for 2 of them!
We are doing 4 classes in September, 8 in October, 3 in November, and 2 in December (counting mine). I think that will be just perfect.
Here is what they are doing:
"Your Government Needs You!" (Ben only)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: We'll be going over how America came to be (briefly) and then getting into the documents that make us up. We'll have a small book version of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence for everyone. We'll talk about the preamble and learn it to song (School house rock), go on an amendment scavenger hunt and find out about the branches of government. This is just a basic introduction, we won't be going over every item in detail.
"Eye See You" (Ben only)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: We'll be learning about the eye, vision and sight. I will be dissecting a cow eyeball as we cover the parts of the eye. Using the book Sense and sensibilities we'll do some activities to understand how we see.
Hammond's Candies Factory Tour (all kids and Mommy)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Let’s go see how candy is made. We all love to eat it but have you ever wondered how they make those delicious confections? Maybe we can find the secret to making melt in your mouth candy canes, caramels and chocolates. http://www.hammondscandies.com/index.php
Pump It Up (Ben, Jack and Meg)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Come and spend 2 hours jumping on the giant interactive inflatable play structures! Wear your socks!
Chamberlin Observatory (Entire family!)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Come learn about the Chamberlin Observatory, and do some first hand observation of the night skies! Jupiter which will be at its best visibility at this time of year.
History: Chamberlin Observatory, completed 1894, is unique among Denver landmarks. DU’s first astronomy professor, Professor Herbert Howe, designed it. The dome houses a 20 inch aperture Clark-Seagmuller refractor which is still functional.
Science Fair! (Ben and Jack)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Prepare a science project of your very own and bring it to the Science Fair. You will be given your own spot to set it up so others can view what you have done. Walk around and see experiments other people have done. There will also be stations with hands on experiments that all kids can try.
Tour of the Denver Mint (the kids and Mommy)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: This tour should take about 30 minutes. If you ever wondered how all those coins in your pocket get made, this is the tour for you. The Denver Mint has been making our money since it opened in 1863. In those days, gold miners brought their nuggets directly to the mint to sell. Today, our coins contain no gold or silver, and the Denver Mint produces 32 million of them per year.
On the tour, you will learn how United States coins are made, and will see stamping presses which can turn out up to 530 coins per minute. The Denver Mint is one of the three gold depositories in the United States, along with Fort Knox and West Point. The tour includes a display of six gold bars.
Grammar Games (Ben only)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: We'll be reading a few grammar books about onomatopoeia's, alliteration and homonyms. Then we'll do some activities to make the grammar stick.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! (Ben and Jack)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: We will read the funny and quirky classic children's book. Then have some discussion/activities about themes in the book such as how people rely on their environment and other historical immigrations due to natural disasters (Irish potato famine). Possibly go watch the new movie together if it is showing at a time that will work.
Git Along Lil' Doggie (Ben, Jack and Meg)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Cowboy time! We'll be reading a story about brands and making our own, cooking (jelly) beans over the (fake) fire, racing (stick) horses, dressing up in bandannas, hats and fake moustaches and hearing a TX tall tale.
Skating Practice for the Halloween Skate Party (Ben, Jack, Meg and Daddy!)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Don't get out to roller skate very often? Feeling a little rusty, or maybe the kids (and even some of you adults) have never been roller skating before? Let's get a little practice in before the group's big Halloween Skate Party!!!!
Tour of KUVO public radio (the kids and Mommy)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: We'll get a guided tour of a public radio station. They play jazz!
Elementary Chemistry (Ben is registered, and Jack is on the wait list)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: We'll do 4 experiments from the book "Hands-On Chemistry for Elementary Grades" by Phil Parratore to have fun with chemistry.
To look at acids/bases, we'll make a carbonated soft drink.
To examine chemical change, we'll use lemon juice to make a battery.
To learn about density and physical change, we will illustrate sublimation with bubbles and dry ice (we'll do two separate experiments with the dry ice).
We're on the wait list completely for these two classes:
Growing Crystals (Ben and Jack)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Join us to do some experiments with crystal growing. You will leave with a miniature salt garden to grow at home and we will observe, touch and play with some slow growing crystals we already have grown (probably salt, sugar and alum) as well as “grow” some quicker forming crystals during the class (most likely Epsom salt or washing soda) We will take a look at diagrams of the chemical structures that make these crystals and play with some of nature’s crystals (rocks that form this way) Everyone will get “recipes” to take home to grow your own crystals.
Icky Sticky Slime Lab (Ben and Jack)
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Get ready for some icky, sticky, foamy, slimy, ooey, gooey chemistry. We will make really gross (non- toxic) things like loogie goop, slimy phlegm, heaving color changing milk, greasy grimy gopher guts, brain sludge and toe cheese glop. If that sounds fun to you, please join us for some hands-on experiments in the world of slime.
I think all the classes are a good mix of science, history, and just plain ol' having fun!!! I pulled Ben and Jack over separately and told them what they will be doing, and they were so excited! |
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Posted by danielle 
Aug. 25, 2009 - Untitled Comment